1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the establishment and support of end-user extensible electronic mail. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for allowing end-users of electronic mail to extend standard electronic mail protocol for the creation of user-defined commands that are recognizable and executable by an electronic mail system and that can alter processing performed after a server accepts a piece of electronic mail.
2. The Prior State of the Art
With the advent of the personal computer, individuals everywhere at anytime rely on electronic mail (email) as a principal mode of communication and means for exchanging information. Electronic communication is at times utilized between individuals down the hall, or alternatively between individuals located around the globe. Email has become a valuable tool for individuals and businesses alike. Individuals worldwide keep in touch with friends and family through the use of email messages by sending electronic letters, birthday cards and holiday greetings, which include text, graphics and/or animation. Businesses use email systems to exchange word processing documents, spreadsheets, data objects, electronic forms, graphic images, and so forth. Businesses also employ email systems to schedule and reschedule meetings, and at times prefer electronic communication in order to memorialize a conversation. Electronic newspapers and newsletters are delivered to email boxes, mass mailings are performed electronically for advertising purposes, and print commands are regularly sent to email accounts. In today's world, email messaging has become such a popular mode of communication and means for exchanging information that collections of valid email addresses have become a valuable commodity.
While electronic mail systems are used worldwide, the discrete functions required or desired by the various users of electronic messaging systems for running the email communications are not identical. Some individuals use email systems that only support text, while other individuals require email systems that support detailed formatting and graphic imaging. At times users send electronic messages for casual conversational purposes only, while other times the sender of the electronic message requires that the exchange be encrypted to preserve the confidentiality of the information. Many users receive such a high volume of electronic mail that they rely on flags to indicate the priority level of the communication, whereas other users receive email so infrequently that they eagerly wait for the delivery of an email message in their box. Various senders of electronic messages require their email system to track the message sent to ensure delivery, to verify that the message has been read, and/or to notify the sender when the message is either undelivered or unread. Alternatively, other senders of email are made aware that their message was sent upon the delivery of a responding message from the receiver. At times, email users employ functions that provide visual or audible notification of the arrival of an electronic message while they are involved in other applications, whereas other users are required to log into their email account to verify the arrival of an electronic message.
While email users require and/or desire a plethora of specialized features, electronic mail systems have been traditionally distributed as a “one size fits all” package. An electronic mail system has been made available to computer users as a bundled package that includes all of the commands, features and formats of that specific system. Thus, when a user desires a specific command, function or format that is not included in the system package, that user must frequently wait until the designer of the email system includes the specialized feature in a newer version of the email package. In the upgraded version, the new feature is generally bundled with a variety of other features. Thus, this traditional method for obtaining the desired feature forces users to upgrade the entire email package in order to pick up the incremental feature, and frequently requires users to receive features that are not desired or needed simply because they were bundled with the desired feature. This process of needing to upgrade the system in order to obtain a desired feature results in the consumption of large amounts of money and/or storage space for individuals and businesses.
It would therefore be desirable for an email user to be able to enhance his/her email system by receiving a specifically desired feature without being required to also receive undesired features. It would also be desirable for an email user to be able to freely create individually customizable features for his/her own email system. It would be desirable for a commercially produced electronic mail system to support the user-created customized features. Furthermore, it would be desirable if an email user could create a user-created feature that could be set up as a default in that user's email box, thereby customizing the various defaults of the user's email system. Any electronic mail model that could exhibit such capabilities would be particularly useful for preserving cost and storage space by allowing a user to add user-customized features to commercially available electronic mail messaging systems.